you stretch
and curl
like seaweed swelling
toward the sun
lithe and supple
by candlelight
we mimic each asana
jagged and stiff
in our years
jagged and stiff
in our practice
you remind us
to breathe
and we do?
hard crashing breaths
on the shoreline of exhale
sometimes you touch us
soft on our shoulders
or the small of our backs
silent requests to move deeper
and ride through each pose
as fishing boats
before a quiet dawn
during savasana
you ask us
to relax each muscle
and muscles that aren?t even muscles:
our kneecaps
wrists
and elbows;
to rest
the tips of hair follicles
and fingernails
we lay like fish baked warm from sun
thoughts flicker like terns
skirting the surface of a still sea
and disappear as quick as they arrived
now,
we have moved beyond thinking
and all that remains are metaphors
to consciousness.
